Review: The Cat and the Coup by Peter Brinson and Kurosh ValaNejad

It’s rare when a video game manages to teach you something beyond its play mechanics. That’s one of the core reasons why The Cat and the Coup, co-developed by Peter Brinson and Kurosh ValaNejad, is an especially interesting title.

I first saw The Cat and the Coup in action at this year’s IndieCade festival, and its art-style (based on Persian Miniatures), immediately stood out as one of the more visually arresting titles on display. On top of that, the game’s deft handling of its atypical subject matter helped Brinson and ValaNejad snag the festival’s Documentary Game award.

Though I was only able to spend a short while playing the game at IndieCade, Peter and Kurosh were kind enough to furnish me with a nearly-completed pre-release build of the game after the show.

As covered in our IndieCade preview of the game, The Cat and the Coup tells the story of Dr. Mohammad Mossadegh, the first democratically elected Prime Minister of Iran. More specifically, the game presents events from Mossadegh’s life in reverse-chronological order, beginning  on his death bed following the CIA-sponsored coup d’etat in 1953. The coup was brought about by Mossadegh’s decision to nationalize Iran’s oil fields – an event I wasn’t aware of until playing the game. The game’s historical events play out in a way that takes the player back in time to the moment he was elected Prime Minister.

What on Earth would inspire the creation of such a game? At IndieCade, I asked the developers where they got the idea to make The Cat and the Coup. Brinson replied:

Every time I see the statistic of the age of the average gamer, it’s always exactly my age. It’s been like that for about ten years, ever since they started talking about that kind of stuff. I know that when I was a young gamer, I was interested in fiction.  I was interested in fiction books. I was interested in fiction movies.  And I still am. But I’m more interested in the real world than I ever have been. And so, I think that this audience of “games for people who are interested in the world” is a new one, and that there’s going to be more and more [games like that].

In another unusual twist, you don’t play the game as Mossadegh, himself. Players instead control the Prime Minister’s cat. As his cat, you’ll solve these puzzles via cat-like activities such as jumping around, knocking stuff off of shelves, and scratching. Each “stage” of The Cat and the Coup is presented as a puzzle that also serves as an artistic representation of key moments in Mossadegh’s life.  Brief snippets of informative text are woven into the backgrounds, which helps to keep the player aware of the tale’s chronology and milestones.

The look of the game is gorgeous, giving you the feeling that you’re navigating a giant historical tapestry. The Persian Miniature art-style also has some touches of collage-style madness. Some of the art seems like it could have been ripped from Terry Gilliam’s subconscious, circa Monty Python’s Flying Circus. As odd as it may sound, the disparate art-styles really enhance the uneasy mood of the game. It’s important to note that not all of the art in the build I played was final, but it already looks great.

The feeling I got while playing The Cat and the Coup was one of unease and wonderment. The Alice in Wonderland-way in which the player tumbles down the rabbit-hole of events from Mossadegh’s life is always undercut with the thematic resonance that the United States was the “bad guy” in this case. After all, the CIA ousted a democratically elected leader of another country for economic reasons. It’s not a story you’ve likely heard taught in American schools, though as Brinson notes in the “About” video, the story of Mossadegh can readily be researched online by those looking for more information.

The Cat and the Coup is a fantastic experience. It’s one of those rare games that will likely teach you something you didn’t already know about world history, without actually making you feel like you’re being taught. The puzzles are perhaps a bit on the easy side, and the game itself is a fairly brief experience. That said, it’s a title that continues to stick with me, even having completed it, and is a shining example of how interesting, unexplored subjects can make for intellectually stimulating game-time.

The Cat and the Coup will be available for download on PC and Mac sometime in 2011.

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